July 20 (Bloomberg) -- China Steel Corp., Taiwan’s largest
producer, will cut prices after the island’s economic growth
slowed, reducing demand from automakers and other buyers.

Prices will fall by an average 5 percent for September
contracts, the Kaohsiung-based company said today in an e-mailed
statement. No percentage changes were given for specific
products. The price cut will be the biggest since the 7 percent
reduction for January and February contracts announced on Nov.
24.

Taiwan’s government lowered its economic growth forecast
for the year after gross domestic product expanded at the
slowest pace in more than two years in the first quarter.
Production of base metals and machinery declined, the cabinet’s
statistics bureau said in a statement May 25.

Yulon Motor Co., Taiwan’s biggest automaker by market value,
said on July 10 sales the previous month fell 15 percent from a
year earlier.

China Steel rose 0.6 percent to close at NT$27.2 in Taipei
trading before the announcement. The stock has fallen 5.6
percent this year, compared with the 1.3 percent gain in the
benchmark Taiex index.

Prices of hot-rolled coil, a benchmark product, will fall
by an average NT$992 ($33) a metric ton for September, China
Steel said in the statement. Plate prices will be cut by an
average NT$1,410 a ton, bar and wire rods by NT$1,300 and cold-rolled steel by NT$949, according to the statement.

The company will also cut electro-galvanized sheet prices
by NT$1,000 a ton, electrical sheets by NT$929, and hot-dipped
zinc-galvanized sheets by NT$1,200, according to the statement.

Taiwan’s gross domestic product rose 0.39 percent in the
three months through March from a year earlier, the statistics
bureau said May 25. The bureau revised its GDP forecast for 2012
to 3.03 percent from an April estimate of 3.38 percent.